"a Ross sponsored dinner where nurses are being invited to hear a speaker
(?) speak on "Counseling the Breastfeeding Mother"?...The IBCLCs in the
hospital are planning on being there to check out what is going on."

Well, I hope the IBCLCs review their code of ethics before they attend a
dinner paid for by Ross Labs! They don't need to "check out what is going
on" - we KNOW what is going on! And going to such a function, funded by Ross
Labs, is incompatible with ethical conduct. In any hospital unit I've ever
known, there will be plenty of people happy to go and report back - and you
can bet your bottom dollar that the motivation is not to check it out, it's
to get a free and probably lavish meal. Our local rep from Abbott (was that
who made SMA?) was an IBCLC, and once sponsored an "educational" dinner
(about BF "support") at one of the ritziest restaurants in town - open bar,
open menu, order anything you want, as much as you can haul away...Nurses
were crawling out of the woodwork to attend; "even" the ward clerks and the
aides were "allowed" to go. Turns out the whole thing was, of course, about
how their product was "most like breastmilk". Duh!

Do you ever come across the formula company reps attending the "legit" BF
conferences (not selling or sponsoring or "spying", but genuinely attending)
to update their skills in breastfeeding support? I don't think so! The good
folks at Ross Labs will be more than happy to provide you with their
"literature" if they have anything important to share with you! Trust me on
this...

Cathy Bargar, RN, IBCLC Ithaca NY

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